It’s come to our attention that our opponent, Santa Fe Mayor David Coss, and/or organizations behind his campaign, have begun using the unethical practice of “push polling” to contact members of our community.

Push polls are phone calls designed to persuade voters under the dishonest pretense of conducting an independent survey, often by insinuating negative or misleading information about the other candidate and/or implying misleading or false positive information about their candidate.

The American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC) unequivocally condemns push polling as a violation under their Code of Ethics, accurately calling it a “degradation of the political process”:

“The AAPC board joined the pollsters in condemning this practice as a clear violation of the AAPC’s Code of Ethics and a degradation of the political process… agreeing unanimously that so-called ‘push polls’ violate the AAPC’s stricture against ‘any activity which would corrupt or degrade the practice of political campaigning.’ ” (http://www.theaapc.org/default.asp?contentID=649)

You can also learn more about push polls and why they’re so damaging to our political process by clicking the link above.

These calls can feel threatening and intrusive. It’s important that you understand the following:

You have the right not to be harassed in your own home by these callers. It’s okay to tell them you don’t want them to call you again, and they must abide by your request.

You have the right not to answer their questions or give them any personal information at all without fear of political reprisals.

You have the right to require them to tell you which organization they’re calling from, which organization or candidate they’re funded by, and what their contact information is.

This is exactly the kind of unethical campaigning and political shenanigans that our campaign is taking a stand against. And with your help, we can bring honesty, democracy and citizen representation back to the Roundhouse and restore the integrity of our Democratic Party as the party of the people.

Everywhere we go, our Campaign for Change hears the same thing: that people in our community don’t feel listened to by the current political leadership.

So to help fix that problem, we’ve launched a series of Listening Parties that give members of our community an opportunity to voice their concerns about with our state government and what the priorities should be. Carl’s plan is to continue these Listening Parties into the general election and make them part of his work as our representative.

Listening parties are very different from traditional “house parties” or “Meet the Candidate” events. They’re all about listening, not talking — they’re not about the candidate giving long-winded speeches about themselves, or even asking for support or contributions. They’re about listening to YOUR concerns and priorities first and foremost, because that’s what democracy is supposed to be about.

At Saturday’s listening party in Nambe, we heard people voice concerns about the poor quality of education in the district and the corruption that plagues our state government. And always the same priority — change, change and more change!

Carl expressed his support for a more open, honest and responsive government that really listens to and serves the people — and once again, we’ve added more support for our Campaign for Change.

Want to host a Listening Party in your community? Email us at campaign@carltrujillo.com . We’ll do all the work — all you have to do is invite your friends and share your concerns about the future of New Mexico.

As a lifelong Democrat, I believe deeply in the values that the Democratic Party is meant to stand for. Among them, fairness, justice, inclusiveness and transparency.

Time and time again, the Democratic Party of Santa Fe has shown itself to be disinterested in upholding these values. Time and time again, the local and state Democratic Party Machine puts its own interests and the interests of insiders and political cronies ahead of the needs of the community and the voice of the people.

We and our supporters have witnessed firsthand the way Democratic Party rules are bent or ignored, standards of fairness violated, and bias is exercised to give preferential treatment to Machine candidates over candidates of the people and the values that the Democratic Party purports to stand for. Your invitation to participate in a forum arranged, moderated, scheduled and formatted by the Democratic Party Machine is just such an abuse.

Our Campaign for Change is all about standing up for all of those who have suffered because of the abuses of the Political Machine here in northern New Mexico.

Because I am passionately committed to restoring honest, open and fair democratic values to our community, I would be happy to participate in a debate with Mayor Coss in a forum that is not run by or beholden to the Democratic Party Machine, and with scheduling and format mutually agreed upon by the two candidates rather than presented fait accompli by that Machine.

If such a sponsor can be found, we would be happy to participate in a forum. It would provide a very public platform to focus on the vital issues we hear over and over again from a growing number of supporters, most urgently that New Mexico has for too long been ruled by a corrupt and outdated political machine that cares more about its self-interest than it does about the well-being of the people, and to provide ample evidence, examples and testimonials of such abuses. So we decline your invitation to participate in a Machine-sponsored forum. Which means that if Mayor Coss would like to attend the “debate” you propose, I expect he’ll be debating with himself.But that’s probably okay – that’s pretty much what the Political Machine here in New Mexico does most of the time anyway.

Meanwhile, we’ll be out in the community spending time listening to the concerns of the people, so we can better represent the people’s needs and concerns in the governance of this great state.

Kind regards,

Carl Trujillo

Candidate for State Representative, District 46

incl:copy of forum invite

Copy of email:

From: “Richard Ellenberg”

Date: Mar 19, 2012 11:19 AMSubject: Forums

To: “Carl Trujillo”, “David Coss Carol Rose”

I would like to invite you to two forums, on in Tesuque area and one here at headquarters. I am looking at the week of April 23 Mon-Thur. Please let me know if you have any conflicts. Subject to your impute, the time will be 6-7:30; questions presented to a moderator in writing in advance or at the forum. 3 minute opening. Then the same question to each candidate, rotating who goes first. 2 minute answer. I might add a 1 minute rebuttal each to make it more of a debate format. No closing.

Today was the day for candidates for state office to turn in their signatures and officially file for office.

Our only opponent will be Santa Fe Mayor David Coss.

The choice in this race, just like when we nearly defeated Ben Lujan Sr., is clear: a corrupt and outdated Democratic Party Machine that puts itself before the needs of the community vs. a citizen’s legislator who will put the needs of the community first.

I’m a lifelong Democrat and I come from generations of lifelong Democrats. I believe in what the Democratic Party is supposed to stand for as the party of the people. But as many of us know too well, New Mexico’s Democratic Party Machine has lost sight of these ideals. In public, the Machine talks the talk about fairness and democracy, but behind closed doors, it rules by threats and intimidation, and puts interests of their politician-friends and cronies above the will of the people.

These next two and a half months will fly by, and during that time we’re going to spend every available minute reaching out to listen to you and your concerns.

But no need to wait for us to knock on your door — if you have something to say, email us and tell us what kind of change you want to see in our state government!

Today, Mayor David Coss is expected to announce his candidacy for state representative here in District 46.

Mr. Coss has decided that he will stay on as mayor whether he gets elected or not, because, he says, “being mayor is too much fun.”

Too much fun.

While our community is suffering from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression…

While our families are struggling to keep their homes and their jobs, and to put food on the table…

While our friends and neighbors are suffering…

Mr. Coss is indeed having too much fun being mayor.

We need a representative who takes the job of serving the people seriously. Not somebody who wants to be in office just because it’s fun. But that’s the Democratic Party Machine for you — it’s always about what they want, not about what we need.

As a father, a community member and a local business owner, I know firsthand how hard things are right now. My priority as your representative will be to represent you, not to have fun.

Help us put someone in office who takes their responsibility to you seriously. Now’s the time to create the change we need!